Rains arrived early this
season and during April and May we have had more water in
the back pan than we have had for many years.. Bird life is
still fairly scare as the migrants have migrated and the
water is too shallow for most of our local birds. A flock of
around 100 Greater and 30 Lesser Flamingos arrived a few
weeks ago and appear to have decided to stay. They can
usually be seen in the North Lake (the boating area) on
weekdays, moving over to the South Lake on weekends.

The quarterly bird count, which was due in mid April, had to
be postponed because of rain, and was held at the end of the
month. On a lovely calm and sunny day, some good counts were
obtained including 26 African Black Oystercatchers, 120
Greater Flamingos and 30 Lesser Flamingos. Egyptian Geese
numbered 1028, and Kelp Gulls reached an amazing 763! Also
seen and included were 15 Great Crested Grebe and 40
Pelicans. The only migrant wader found was one Ruff, who
could be overwintering.

MARSH OWL

Residents of Flamingo
View recently confirmed the presence of a Marsh Owl seen
from their townhouse complex every evening from 5p.m.
onwards. This led to many visits from local and not so local
bird club members, and most visitors have managed to see the
Owl. Marsh Owls are scarce and not easy to see - as typical
Owls they hunt at night. However, Marsh Owls are often
active at dawn and dusk and on particularly cloudy days. We
have known they are present in the large reed beds at
Rietvlei where they roost by day, but finding them is not
easy! We now have one very obliging Owl, so if you would
like to see it, visit the Flamingo View complex at the end
of Jamieson Street any evening after 5p.m, and look out
across the vlei.

NEW MEMBERS

We welcome the following new members:

Petra Broddle, the Wagner family, and Michael Hopkins all of
Table View who joined in November last year.

Michael and Santie Kohler of Table view, Michael and Beulah
Goldman of Woodbridge Island, George and Clarice Milligan of
Flamingo Vlei, Boet and Marge Maartens of Table View and
Marlon Weibel and family of Table View all new members
during early 2004.

ACCESS ISSUES

Some of our members are experiencing difficulty getting into
Rietvlei. Please remember to inform the Water Ranger on your
arrival at the gate that you are a member of Friends of
Rietvlei and ask him to check the Friends of Rietvlei
membership list where he will find your name. Your
membership entitles you to free entry for yourself if you
are an individual member and for your direct family if you
have family membership. This does not include your extended
family, but refers usually to a couple plus their small
children. Unfortunately this free entry does not include
your vehicle. You can however, cycle around the vlei with
your free entrance, but you cannot fish or boat unless you
pay the extra charge at the gate. Our free entrance is a
privilege granted by the Council and we must be careful not
to abuse it.

YOUTH ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOOL

The YES 2004 programme runs from 31 May to 4 June 2004. The
programme takes place mainly at Chrysalis Academy in Tokai
but in recent years, satellite programmes have been up and
running and proved very successful. For the first time,
Rietvlei has been offered as a satellite venue and we are
pleased to have been asked to run two programmes daily each
lasting two hours. This will be a real test for our
education centre and our conservation students! We are
planning on classroom activities plus a walk to our bird
hide, weather permitting. What we really need are volunteers
to assist. Programmes run from 9.30 to 11.30a.m., and from
11.30 to 1.30 and the learners involved in each programme
will be of differing ages from various schools across the
peninsula and locally. We have some exciting ideas on this
years theme which is 'Seas and Oceans', so if you would like
to help us either with our classroom activities or nature
and bird walks, please contact either myself (Margaret) on
557-4990 or our students, J.P. and Andrie on 550-7564. The
theme 'Seas and Oceans' may not seem applicable to our
Rietvlei Wetland, so we are focusing on birds that frequent
both seas and wetlands as well as pollution issues which
would also affect wetlands as well as oceans. Skilled or
unskilled, knowledgeable about environmental issues or not,
we would certainly appreciate any assistance from any of our
members with some time to spare.

Please remember our appeal for furnishings and equipment for
our Education Centre. We are in urgent need of a cupboard
for the office area to store all our posters and teaching
aids, so if you are planning on throwing out that old
cupboard, please consider us first! Old binoculars, bird
books, tree and plant guides would be most welcome. A small
urn would be especially well received! Phone 557-3748 (Pat)
after hours.